Chapter 4- A Suspicious Fire
"Damn... so much for the fantasy, why did it have to be action instead of adventure?" I said slightly lucidly as I collapsed to a knee.
Why?
Usually, when I killed a rat in the maze the ethereal blue wisps would enter my chest.
Not when the goblin died, instead dark red wisps entered my chest. More forcefully and heavier. The pain was not insane but it was enough to stun me to a knee for a couple of seconds.
I recovered quickly enough, and a minute or so later I had two enchanted scimitars strapped across my back along with my spear.
On my left forearm sat a gauntlet that ended in drill-like spikes on each knuckle. I felt an odd connection to it as the orange runes glowed slightly in a pattern that synchronized with my heartbeat.
It didn't come with an instruction manual so I'd have to experiment with it to figure out how to shoot balls of fire, if I even could that is.
Something caught my attention after the rather short 'boss fight', well two things.
One, the goblin swordsman's corpse still sat with its back against the cold stone floor, the hole in its chest still dripping with putrid purple blood. It seemed the 'dungeon' wouldn't eat its corpse.
The corpse forgotten, I turned towards the campfire in the center of the room, it was then that I noticed how out of place it looked. Compared to the meager and lackluster stone that this room was made of the golden fire seemed to be fed by golden coals.
It pulsed every few moments as if enticing me to head towards it.
Honestly, I never felt as tired as I did at that moment.
'When did I start feeling tired again?' The thought was discarded as I was slowly making my way towards the fire. Like I was bewitched I stopped in front of it, removed my weapons and sat with my legs crossed.
'Why did I remove my weapons?' I wanted to ask aloud but the answer came from the flames.
My hand entered fire and squeezed into a fist, the flame responded in a burst that enveloped me and the room.
The flame seeped into me, my skin then my bones. Everything felt renewed as I was bathed in the golden fire, offhandedly I noticed that the goblin's corpse was enveloped and turned to golden ash.
One thought permeated my mind. 'This is safety' Without even realizing I collapsed to my side and passed out, the golden fire's promise of safety rang true in my mind.
"Haaa..." A sigh of pleasure left my lips as I sat up and began rubbing my eyes.
'I've got to say that was the best sleep of my life, well besides the freaky hypnosis parts' I admitted as I observed the golden campfire that let out just enough warmth. It chased away even the slightest shiver from the stone floor and left me feeling content.
"Oh... so it's this kind of world," I noticed as I got a good look into the fire.
Wisps of flame coalesced into something resembling a flaming scroll.
-
{Essence: 109,590}
Name: Ace Lothbrook
Level: 1
Mana: 110/110
Class: N/A
Rank: Human
Strength-8
Agility-17
Endurance-10
Dexterity-10
Intelligence-11
Faith-5
[Statistical Upgrade Cost: 500 Essence]
-
Simple, I could see similarities between it and RPG games almost instantly. So instead of the 'soul' what I was absorbing from the monsters was essence. Which might be the same thing but I hoped not, would be pretty dark even if they were monsters.
The most interesting thing that stood out to me was the 'class' tab. Would it be like the basic ones? Cleric, Warlock, Berserker?
Or something more broad.
Like Mage, Warrior, and Ranger as base classes. Classes that upgrade themselves into more personal or specialized classes. Like a mage turning into a Pyromancer, a warrior turning into a Swordsman, or a ranger becoming an Assassin.
Or it would be something random that you receive after completing some type of prerequisite. Like swinging a sword a thousand times to unlock the swordsman class or learning five spells to become a wizard. Finding a secret temple to become a warrior priest of an ancient deity. It was probably the most 'luck' based class system.
Still, I already possessed 'mana'. Meaning that even if I had something like the berserk class I would still be able to use magical tools and probably even certain spells, probably.
I had no idea but those three were the main way classes would work in most games.
I hoped there would be a choice.
The stats themselves were pretty basic but there were a few things I could tell were a little more hidden.
The three physical statistics were pretty self-explanatory, dexterity dealt with coordination and flexibility. Strength was just that, how strong you were. I'd imagine increasing that statistic would greatly increase your ability to use large weapons and overpower enemies. Endurance was simply your stamina.
Faith would normally increase your affinity towards more 'holy' abilities, like healing or buffing spells. Turning your faith into a tangible power.
Intelligence most likely dealt with your mana pool or how much you have.
The last thing I noticed was the absence of a Vigor stat which would usually deal with vitality. It led me to believe that vitality was put into the endurance stat. Making it an even more valuable statistic.
"I've played too many games...." Usually, that would be followed by a sigh but in this specific scenario it was like hitting the lottery. My previously useless knowledge now proved to be invaluable.
'How should I use my essence?' It was a stacked question. Simply I could build around what I do now, focus on endurance, dexterity, and agility. My spearmanship and crossbow have gotten me this far so it wouldn't be wrong to specialize there.
Putting a focus on dexterity and endurance to become a menace in close combat, but is that something I will always focus on? A choice needed to be made but I wasn't sure I was confident enough to be a primary melee combatant.